Can Your Blood Pressure Medication Prevent Skin Cancer?

Monday, April 24, 2017

Some new and exciting research is showing that one of the most common type of blood pressure medications, better known as carvediol (brand name Coreg and Coreg CR), may help prevent skin cancer. Carvediol is a type of medication known as a beta-blocker and is one of the most common types of blood pressure lowering agents used today. Tens of millions of prescriptions for carvediol are written annually.

Recent research aimed at studying whether carvediol was associated with cancer risks showed surprising results. To their surprise, it appeared to actually show protective effects against skin cancer. Soon after the initial findings, laboratory studies were conducted in mice which showed that skin cells exposed to UVB were offered surprising levels of protection by carvediol. In fact, the study showed that carvediol protected epidermal cells even better than sunscreens (shocking, yes) preventing both cancer development and a decrease in the amount of tumor growths.

The researchers' hopes are that one day a dermal spray formulation can be developed with the active proponent of carvediol to help protect skin from UVB damage. As of yet, the exact mechanism of this anti-cancer effect is not yet known.

In practical terms, a real world product is probably years aware from development. However, this is a major breakthrough in finding new ways to protect us from the most common form of cancer.

It is estimated that over 85,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed with skin cancer this year alone.